Tourism Toronto hits it big with new timelapse video

Now this just makes sense. Remember when Ryan Emond released that stunning timelapse sequence of Toronto that we referred to as a love letter to the city? Turns out the folks at Tourism Toronto were paying attention. Following the attention that video got, the photographer was approached to shoot something more official to promote Toronto to the rest of the world. And given what's passed for promotional materials in the past, it's not hard to see why this latest effort is a vast improvement.

"They wanted to do something entirely different, they wanted to come away from the standard tourism video, so I figured I would step as far away from those videos as possible," Emond explains in the description that accompanies his latest effort, Planet Toronto. "I felt like it was the perfect opportunity to push my shooting style by employing a purely observational perspective. I intended to capture the city in distinctive form-- I wanted to make this piece different."

Given an increased budget and easier access to prime shooting locations, the results are nothing short of gorgeous. I loved Toronto Tempo, but the production quality of this sequence is in a league of its own. "Much like other cities, Toronto is a place you have to experience to feel the energy and emotion that pulses through the streets and neighbourhoods. I hope that I can give you a brief glimpse of the beauty, and motivate you to come explore for yourself."

Great imagery and great technical execution! But like most of these time-lapse videos still missing the key element to great video production... storytelling. Especially from a "Tourism" perspective, this really does not sell me at all on visiting Toronto as it really didnt show me anything much about Toronto other than there is skyscrapers. Ryan you have great technical skills when it comes to time-lapse production, but c'mon give me something more!

Yep. Montreal doesn't need flashy videos that show nothing but endless steel and concrete to get the tourists. Great video, but it tells me nothing of the city, just that it's tall, and sometimes a lot of people are on the sidewalk.

Build an interesting city and the people will come. Sadly, this isn't an interesting city from a tourist's perspective, plus this video showed how truly ugly and mishmashed it is. I can't see this convincing a single tourist to visit Toronto unless they have to come here or have family.

Really cool but a lot of the shots have blue-grey overcast feel to them, a bit dull, dark and moody and not in a good way, I think. For an example of different hues and saturation, see The Mountain (http://vimeo.com/22439234). It feel much more alive and vibrant.

keep in mind this is an art piece. To get all 'film nerd' on it - it's an associational non-narrative. (juxtaposition of loosely connected images to suggest new insights).

To say that the piece needs "a story" would only be accurate if he was trying to tell one. Watch Baraka or Samasara (currently at the lightbox) and you'll see one of the best example of the associational non narrative form.

Personally I think the film works on many different levels. Adding the street level slowmotion really does job of contrasting to the timelapse buildings. My hat goes off to the filmmaker - he's really made something special.

I'm all for art pieces and associational non narrative film making. Baraka, Samsara, The Qatsi trilogy. The thing is they all do tell some sort of "story", set some sort of tone or narrative, be it poetic, through their juxtaposition of imagery. That is why they are so highly revered. The current trend of time-lapse filmmaking does not accomplish this. Technically Ryan did a great job with this and his previous films... but I agree with others, there is still something missing which I would love to see him attempt to fill.

Secondly, it is not just an art piece it is a video commissioned by Tourism Toronto to promote the city, "in a new way". Again, Ryan did a technically great job, but as he himself said he wanted to push himself to go further than his previous pieces. From a technical perspective, he did, some new interesting shots... but from a conceptual standpoint, he's got a lot further to go. It is to promote a city, what is a city but the people, the culture, the life that makes it one... where is this in the video? Are we a city of skyscrapers and buildings? Here is a great example of film that delivers on this https://vimeo.com/15068747 using the same filmmaking techniques.

I think the points George and others bring up are great constructive criticism that can help to push the filmmaker even further in his future work. Kudos to Tourism Toronto to recognizing the great work and "viral" opportunities from it.

It's a very neat video, but does little to capture what this city is. We've got tall buildings and cars and people (like little ants) that walk around even at night! I will be sharing this video based on the technical merits and composition alone!

agreed that it's not going to invoke the emotion of Baraka - but it's under 4 minutes.

as for the merits of this as a Tourist Piece - it's shot in a style that is current and popular. Normally tourism pieces feel as dated as a Canada's Wonderland / Marineland commercial, but a video like this will appeal to a whole different demograpic (vimeo watching, DSLR owning, social media connected young people)

I agree. I loved the video for its artistry, but as it kept going I thought "Ok, I've seen the Financial District, what else is there?" The Kensington shot was cool, but it was one shot of one person in the rain. When I think of what this could have been...

For example, what about showing inside the Eatons Centre at Christmas, a symphony at Roy Thomson, the inside of any Ossington bar of a night, Question Period at the Legislature, biking down the Don Valley, a Toronto FC game, a Leafs game, a Raptors game, the fairway of the CNE, a regatta off the Toronto Islands, Taste of the Danforth, Caribana parade, Santa Clause parade, Pride, the Scotiabank Marathon, patrons outside a coffee house in Leslieville, biking through High Park, the Distillery, St. Lawrence Market on a Saturday, Kensington Market on pedestrian Sunday, TIFF red carpet, Union Stn train platforms, a concert at Harbourfront in the summer, an outdoor movie in Dundas Square, Yonge Street at night, across town on the 501 Queen streetcar, skating at Nathan Philips Square, Word on the Street at Queen's Park, etc.

Does this make me want to visit Toronto? Hmmm, maybe if I like skyscrappers?

It was quoted: "the energy and emotion that pulses through the streets and neighbourhoods". I didn't really notice if there were any neidghbourhood shots? I'm pretty sure it was just Downtown shots. Why not show some street level, or only slightly elevated shots of China town, Kensington, the Beach, TO Island, Harbour, an overhead inside St Lawrence, Bloor Street maybe? This video doesn't show to the reader that any of these exist! I think only a couple clips of Dundas Sq were there (showing non-unique parts of Toronto - break dancing etc)

All I got was people rushing point A to B - was that was the point of the video? (again, it looked awesome) It seems like it was birds-eye view after birds-eye view each showing slightly different angles with camera twists and turns, like a special effects video on urban landscape. There was some slow-mo parts, so I don't see why some more interesting parts of Toronto that identifies us greater couldn't have been portrayed (like the fruit stand - but forget the reversing raindrops).

Again, cool effects, but as a paid tourism piece - not so good in my book...

While this is very well done, I agree with the comments by others that we need more than a bird's eye view of the downtown core. Hopefully, Tourism Toronto will hire Mr. Emond to do a video that is shot from the street level to show off Toronto's neighbourhoods, restaurants, cafés, nightlife, parks, universities/colleges, and other attractions of the city.

Very cool video but mostly for locals as they can connect with the locations and relate to some of the events.
I don't think this would appeal to many tourists as it doesn't really make Toronto look much different or unique than any other major North American city.

Both videos are stunning achievements. But I think I prefer the first one (Love Letter to Toronto). To me it has nicer shots from within the city. The shot inside the Eaton Centre and the shot of Kensington are stunning. And the tilt-shift style is well used. The newer video does have some nicer beauty shots of the city buildings but it's missing heart. I think edit the best of both together and you have a winner.

Like someone pointed out, not that much to offer tourists, nothing the hasn't be seen somewhere else. And that's exactly it in my opinion, a lack of their own identity. They knock down all of their English history to build the modern house (condos) And in the end there isn't very much to see. Tourists want history, uniqueness, culture. Personally i wouldn't travel halfway across the world to see a bunch of condos. Montreal on the other hand....

The shot is done in time-lapse, which means it's a ton of still photographs taken seconds apart, and then condensed to show the rapid passage of time. So if it looks like the camera is being dropped, it's probably just being lowered at a regular speed (but still a controlled movement, possibly using a crane).

Although, something about that shot looked like it was artificial 3D rendering, so I'm not sure. It was such a fast movement in the shot that it's hard to see any detail.

Hate it. Even worst when played with no sound lol. What does it show ? That people in Toronto drive, go to work and back, that there are plenty of high rise building that look the same?!?
Like most people here, I'm not criticizing the video from a artistic point of view. It's simply not a good fit for tourism purposes...
Here's a good one: http://vimeo.com/35959846

I wish there could be more close-ups of people in these Toronto time-lapse videos--so many focus on the structures that shape the city skyline. People are integral in making Toronto what it is. My favourite parts of this one were the breakdancer and the girl playing in the fountain at Yonge-Dundas Square.

If I see another time lapse video of Toronto Skyscrapers, someone please shoot me...

Honestly these videos are going to look so incredibly dated... in about 3 days time. It's like an entire generation just discovered time lapse.

The motorized jib shots are technically adept, but at the end of the day it's a trick, and it can't replace... you know... creativity, editorial decisions, and direction. So setting aside the obvious technical woo hoo ra-di-da, this is a self-defeating video in terms of its goal... namely... attracting tourists.

Let's face some facts... our skyline looks impressive from the island (and almost exclusively because of the CN tower and Skydome), but for the most part Toronto is an unattractive, and unoriginal looking city, no different from any other hi-rise city in the world, although perhaps cleaner than most. This becomes no more evident.... than in this particular video.

It pains me to say this... I love Toronto, but compared to Montreal, or San Francisco, or practically any city in Europe, our city has about as much soul architecturally, as a crash barrier. What little soul there was, has been erased by the developers who seemingly run the place.

I can understand the tourism board wanting to try something different and use contemporary techniques - experimentation is to be commended - but for the next video, they really should employ those same techniques, but without the skyscrapers. Our hi-rise buildings need to be de-emphasized, and in their place... street level, our people, locations, and our experiences (as so brilliantly listed by Jason above).

There's a solution for this video though... shoot more footage, do a new edit!

So it seems that building an interesting city is not enough to attract tourists ... or that Montreal isn't as interesting as you think ... or perhaps that Toronto is more interesting than you give it credit for.

Technically adept but does little to show off the texture of this city, its people, crazy fun places, natural beauty, interesting and unusual suburban places, shopping, arts, progressive society, culture etc. There is first-rate architecture (mostly we are way too hard on ourselves), historical places, etc. but this little flick loves the generic window-wall towers that are often kinda crap. It wouldn't make me particularly want to come here, and I really like the place.

I was thinking the same thing! All I get from this video is "come see our traffic and skyscrapers"... there's so much vibrancy beyond headlights in Toronto, I wish this video showcased it because it's so well executed otherwise.

Cool, but is Toronto really the 'cloudy' city that is portrayed here? Where are the cool locations besides skyscrapers? Why shown Rogers Centre with the dome opening/closing and NO people?
Missed a real opportunity here to sell Toronto with these great visual effects!

ZZZZZZZ
Who comes to a city to see traffic, or buildings?
This video would not make me want to visit TO.
There were only 2 close up shots of humans. The video should have been mostly made of those kind of shots! I agree that it lacked soul because there were no storytelling element to it.
It seems like the videographer got caught up in all the fun toys he could play with, with the bigger budget.

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